French Ironclad Solferino 1861 by GrandpaPhil - FINISHED - Orel - 1/200 - CARD

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!

[GrandpaPhil]

My first takes on the engine vent pipes ended in disaster.  
 

They ended so badly that there will be no pictures of them.

 

From now on, I will be scratch building all vent pipes and stanchions.  That is much easier.

[GrandpaPhil]

The stack:

Vent Number 1:

 

 

 

I carved it from a bamboo kitchen skewer.

[GrandpaPhil]

The main stack is done and glued down:

 

 

 

Working on updating the plans for Magenta based off the model:

 

 

Currently working on the blockhouse.

[GrandpaPhil]

Been busy on Solferino this past weekend!

 

The skylights and stack are glued down.  The blockhouse is not yet finished, but I need to draw it for Magenta before I close it up.  The gratings still need edge painted and sealed prior to installation.

 

But she’s starting to look like a ship.

 

 

 

 

 

The stanchions in the blockhouse are 1/32” basswood.  I couldn’t get the paper ones to fold right.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

The blockhouse is done and glued down.

 

All gratings are done and glued down.

 

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Working on the ship’s wheel:

 

 

 

The plans of the actual ship call for a third wheel in the middle, but due to scale, I’m going to leave it as is.

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Progress has been very slow because life has been very busy.

 

 

 

 

The ship’s wheel needs sealed in place.  The frame for the ladder aft of the blockhouse needs edge painted, sealed and glued down.  The other frames need their inside trim pieces cut out and installed.

[Joe100]

There is nothing more satisfying than a good card model build log!

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!  This build has been fun and informative!

[GrandpaPhil]

Making progress:

 

 

 

 

Here is the galley stove:

 

 

It is tiny!

 

The plans call for the galley to be located on the upper gun deck, so I didn’t draw this piece up on the plans for Magenta.

[GrandpaPhil]

Life is really busy right now so all hobby work has slowed to a crawl.

 

The stove is cleaned up and edge painted.

 

Plus, I started another fitting that sits next to it.

 

 

Completely not ship related, but I enjoy painting miniature figures.

 

The Admiral really likes sloths.

I found a set of 28mm DnD sloth figures from Dark Sword Miniatures.

 

The Admiral asked me to buy some of them and paint them for her.

So, I bought her 3 of them.

 

Here’s the first one:

 

 

 

[Baker]

Nice paint job 👍

[Captain Slog]

I haven't visited this section of the form until recently so missed this log. Will be following from now on. Looking great.

 

Cheers

Slog

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you both very much!

[GrandpaPhil]

The stove and another fitting are on:

The other fitting needs some paint, but it’s too small to paint off the model.  I’d lose it.

 

In other news, I painted another sloth figure for the Admiral:

 

 

 

This one is a cleric.  They are all 1:48-1:56 scale.

 

And in Solferino related news, I’m thinking that when I get to that stage and test build a cannon, I might just carve them all.  

If I think it will look better.

 

Carving cannons isn’t particularly difficult, it’s just time consuming (like everything in this hobby).

 

It’s also very relaxing to me (also like everything else in this hobby).

Edited April 9, 2022 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

The last sloth figure, a DnD Bard:

 

 

Now, to place them all in the Admiral’s curio cabinet, and back to the Solferino!

[GrandpaPhil]

The first vent pipe failed, so I made another:

 

 

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

I have a very difficult time rolling the really small parts, it’s usually easier to just make them from wood.

[ccoyle]

14 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

I have a very difficult time rolling the really small parts

 

I think we all do -- unless we happen to be Polish.

[GrandpaPhil]

The galley funnel is up:

Working on bitts:

These are tiny.  On the Magenta, they will be much larger.

[GrandpaPhil]

I’m doing the Zu Monfeld thing of working fittings forward to aft so I don’t forget anything.

 

In that spirit, the first five bitts are in place:

The rest are being made right now, since it isn’t really any harder to make a bunch than make a few:

On a side note, this has been an interesting building experience.

 

With transition era warships there are many more modern fittings, like superstructures and stacks, mixed in with the old binnacles, bitts, and a ship’s wheel that had its twin on the Constitution or Victory.

 

It is neat looking at the differences between this model and those I have built in the past.

 

My usual era is the mid-18th to early 19th Centuries.

[GrandpaPhil]

This is just me musing about future builds.
 

My hands down favorite ship models are the Baroque Era floating palaces of the 17th Century.

 

The only one of those that I have built is a Heller La Reale.  That one died horribly in storage (it got knocked over).  
 

I have the AAMM plans for another one and am probably going to buy Gerard Delacroix’s monograph of La Fleur De Lis, this summer.

 

I also have the plans for Sovereign Of The Seas (the John McKay Book) that I will turn into a model one day.

 

I would also like to build one of the French Two or Three-Deckers from the Seventeenth Century, too.

 

I’ll keep an eye on AAMM and Ancre for those.

[GrandpaPhil]

Since I already made them, I installed all bitts:

Next up: rope coils and forward pin rails!

[GrandpaPhil]

1/200 scale rope coils in progress:

[Old Collingwood]

Looking most excellent Phil  -  keep up this great work.

 

OC.

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much, OC!

 

A bunch of very small rope coils, that still need a band around the base:

Those were a doozy to make!

[GrandpaPhil]

The Main Deck Rope Coils are on:

There’s a band that goes around the base.  
 

I only put the bands around the ones at the Foremast, because I don’t think it adds anything to the model at this scale and actually detracts from the appearance.

[GrandpaPhil]

Next up, I’ll be making the ladders.  I sealed both sides of the pieces.

[GrandpaPhil]

Working on the ladders:

Work is going really slowly on them.

 

Even on normal sized models, ladders are difficult for me.  

But at 1/200 scale, they are a royal pain.

 

We all have one fitting that we don’t like.  

Ladders are that fitting for me.